What Are the Current Threats to Japan // Ask Me Japan
Question: What are the currents threats to Japan?
One of the biggest is the looming Tokai quake. This is been expected to go for the past 50 years, but worry about it has only increased since the Kumamoto quake. Here is a somewhat recent story on it in the English media, but there are stories on it in Japanese very often. Not to mention, fortune tellers and other con artists are constantly claiming it is coming any day now and giving dates. Every year there is at least one of these claims that get covered by the news, sending local folks into panic.
The Tokai area is an unofficial name for the eastern part of the Chubu region—central Japan. The Tokai quake is a megaquake that hits roughly every 100—150 years. The last few have been 1498, 1605, 1707, and 1854. As you can see, we are probably overdue for another.
The Tokai quake is expected to be 8.0 or higher and expected to cause deaths in the thousands. Not only from the initial damage, but from tsunami. Some reports go further, speculating that a 9.0 is coming somewhere on the Nankai Trough. Not only would the initial quake devastate the area, but it would cause tsunami of up to 34 meters (112 feet) which would make a very bad situation even worse.
This is the basic area we are worried about, the Nankai Trough:
As you can see, it's divided into 5 areas. A & B are Nankai, C & D Tonankai, and E is Tokai. Studies show that the quake could go off in any of these areas, but since we had a Tonankai quake in 1944 and a Nankai quake in 1946, the big one is expected to most likely be in the Tokai area. Shizuoka would likely be hit the hardest, but everyone in this area would feel it and be in danger.
Japan has spent trillions preparing for this quake and with good reason. Given the importance of this area, if it hits and if it is as bad as predicted, it would be one of the worst disasters in history and would cripple the country.
Ask Me Japan
Do you have any questions about Japan that you just can't find the answer to and are itching to know? Ask me in the comments and if I have any insight I'll address your question in another post.
 | David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. More? |
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One of the biggest threats
Question how easy is it turn crypto into Yen? Thinking about going to Japan for a few years, can I cash out coins without ID? Are there crypto ATMs?
Godzilla is an ever-present threat.
The only crypto ATMs I know of are in Tokyo, and even then there are only 2 in the city. As of now, the only real way I know of to use crypto here is a Japanese exchange, all of which require a lot of ID and frequently put all accounts on hold. It's a pretty bleak situation. Given my bad experience with Japanese exchanges, I move my crypto to coinbase, then to my US bank, then to paypal, which I then withdraw at an international ATM. Not ideal at all.
As always, we hope in the future it will be better.
Japan seems to have disproportionate bad luck with natural disasters given its size. I've been hearing about the heavy rains and flooding and such.
That said, predicting earthquakes in an earthquake-prone region is kind of like predicting a die roll; no matter how many times you're wrong, eventually you'll be right, but does that really make you a great prognosticator?
Nature is a double-edged sword. Japanese incredible beauty is in large part to all the seismic activity, tsunami, and rainy season disasters. Yet... those same things that make nature so very beautiful here also make it deadly. Yin/yang, eh?
Yeah, I know, earthquake science is still in it's infancy and really can't do anything but look at historic trends and patterns. Hmm... kind of like all of us trying to predict the next bull market ;)